A coup overtook the government in 2009 and there isn’t much “law and order,” he said.

The area isn’t dangerous or volatile, he said, but the news release states that “political uncertainty has increased poverty and accelerated illegal logging” and that lemur hunting is “a more serious threat than previously imagined.”

Nearly 90% of the island’s natural vegetation has already been lost, the statement said. It said habitat loss is the primary cause of the animals’ decline.

Mittermeier said the remainder of the conference will be spent devising an action plan.

There are likely to be 30 to 40 projects addressing the issue with a total budget of $5 million to $10 million over the next three years, he said.

“Not very much to save an entire forest and population,” he said.

There was one positive finding, the release said: the discovery of a new species of lemur. The species, thus far unnamed, was discovered by Peter Kappeler and his team from the German Primate Center.